MobyGames Classic: Ultima 7 community stories

Shacknews readers share their own stories revolving around the classic Ultima VII, the latest game inducted into the "Moby Games Classic" series on Shacknews.com.

On Wednesday we announced 1992's classic role-playing title Ultima VII: The Black Gate was the next addition our growing list of video game classics, presented by MobyGames.com.

To many fans of the franchise--and even series creator Richard Garriot--Ultima VII represented the pinnacle of virtual world simulation for the famed role-playing game series. "I felt that was the most masterfully executed of the Ultima series, so to speak," Garriot said in a 2006 interview. After the break, the Shacknews community shares their stories and impressions of Ultima VII, and answer why they feel it's deserving of a spot on our list of classics.

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"I remember finding the semi-insane wizard's shack out in the woods, and looting all sorts of awesome magic items from it, then going outside and inadvertantly aggravating a wisp and getting blasted with what looked like little lakes of fire until dead," Shacknews user TheMongbat wrote. "I loved just exploring and wandering around in that game. It was just like Skyrim. I purposely avoided the main questline in order to just have fun and live in the game world."

"Ultima VII represented the pinnacle of virtual world simulation where I really felt I had done the best job of interactive storytelling and of world detailing to create a play space and a play environment and reasons to be there," Garriott told GameSpot in 2006.

"If my memory is intact (hah!) wasn't this game just a total pain to configure your memory to get it to run?" Shacknews user daggot remembered. "While I do miss some of the power of the dos days, I don't miss having to jump through so many hoops to get a game to run." Though many agreed, it's clear that fans of the game were willing to deal with technical issues to ensure the game was played.

"This game cost me two months of summer holidays I spent on following the 300+ pages walkthrough I borrowod from a friend to the letter to complete every sidequest in both games and the expansions. They just don't make games like that anymore! It was enormous!" Shacker erdstapa noted.

The Ultima series may be classic, but it's still available for modern gamers to enjoy courtesy of the folks at Good Old Games.

The Avatar sees a strange message on his computer screen. An unknown being who calls himself the Guardian claims that Britannia has entered a true age of enlightenment, and soon everyone, including the Avatar himself, shall bow before the new lord. A horrible ritualistic murder has just occurred--the body of the local blacksmith was found in the stables. The champion of Britannia must solve the murder and find out about the Fellowship's true purpose, while still pursued by the ominous warnings of the mysterious Guardian.

MobyGames Classic is our chance to look back at the games that helped shape the video game industry with the help of our sister site MobyGames.com. It combines a short history lesson on the title and anecdotes from the Shacknews community.